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A Labour of Love
"The idea to do a 'child' mannequin came from my friend, teacher and mentor, Heather Blakey. We were gathered together in her home at our monthly Sunday get together at the 'Salon du Muse'. The group came together. 6-8 women of all ages and professions, interests, roles in life, blending together as a sharing experience, bringing books to read, crafts in progress, writing, reports on galleries visited, sharing experiences of what made our lives enriched. I began by going to the Japanese shop and buying two rolls of rice paper, beige in colour, with silver flecks. So beautiful. I bought a container of craft glue, cut up the first roll of paper and proceeded to stick it on to the plastic child mannequin. The mannequin is a torso only. Size about 24 inches so it was easy to manage. It took some weeks cutting up the rice paper in all shapes and sizes but I did love doing it. When it was finished I hung it on a hook on the picture rail in the front room. On it I hung a Stafford Ellison child's coat made of Harris Tweed bought for my son by his Nan and Pa. My uncle worked at the Stafford Ellison in Carlton for 40 years. The small two year old fitted coat is in pristine condition. Mum took up the sleeves. (for Trev to grow into.) The coat fitted the mannequin perfectly. It was exactly the right length as if it had been meant to be. Now what next? I had discussion with the Sunday group about what I would do and suggestions were made as I had also decided on using cards and photographs. I tied these in envelopes to the coat, telling the story in my words and including photographs as Trev was growing up. So each photograph accompanied a story from birth to growing up into a child. This involved a long labour of love going through the photo albums of his life. I purchased small cards coloured brightly and pasted the photo on one side and the accompanying story on the other. I thne put a punched hole in the corner of the card and attached it to the little brown coat with dark brown wool tied in a bow...."
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A Poignant Journey of the Heart
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